Amanda Zito BFA Illustration Thesis Spring 2014

THE MISTREATMENT AND PREJUDICE AGAINST CHINESE IMMIGRANTS IN THE 19th CENTURY

My thesis is the opening ten pages to a western adventure comic about a Chinese-American woman named Charlie, and a drunk named Nate. The comic explores ideas about preconceived notions in the Old West through racism and feminism. Good Time Charlie, is set in Milwaukie, Oregon during the height of racial discrimination against Chinese Immigrants in the United States at the end of 19th century. It aims to overcome harmful stereotypes established within the Western genre. When Charlie is faced with the foreclosure of her late father’s Saloon it seems that her only salvation is to travel from Oregon to Montana with Nate, who confesses to know of a stash of gold that will solve all of their problems. The ten pages illustrates the introduction of Nate and Charlie and the development of their complicated relationship.